by Leena Maria
"So what are these clues?"
"One of the books that my shadow stole was in another monastery, in Germany. This book was from the early middle ages and had been brought to the monastery from Italy. It was safely locked inside a wooden box, mind you, so the shadow could not harm it. This was probably because of the beautiful bejeweled bees on its cover... It was written in Latin, and there was a reference there to the Trail of Angels. It sounded like a spiritual path for a believer to follow, to achieve enlightenment, but I found the wording a bit strange."
"What did it say?"
"Well, in modern language - as some of you may not understand Latin - it said that if the reader were to follow the Trail of Angels, they would find their way to the Creators. And that's the odd part. Plural. Not Creator, not God, but Creators."
"I see..." Daniel looked at Elijah, who nodded.
"Yes?" Mr. Donnelly looked at them eagerly.
"It's obvious, of course!" Reggie jumped to his feet and literally took a few excited hops around the room on his long legs. "Of course! This only confirms what we had already concluded."
"Do tell," Mr. Donnelly pressed his round spectacles even more firmly onto his nose.
"The Book of Watchers is a map to the abode of the Watchers. And what you just told us reveals that the Trail of Angels will take one directly to them. They might even be the same thing under a different name. Cain's Nephilim want to find the physical location of the ancient Watchers, the forefathers of the Nephilim! The very same Watchers, who sired the Nephilim in the first place, and according to legend were thrown into eternal damnation as a result."
"The actual Angels?" Grandma asked, "the forefathers of the Nephilim?"
"Yes, or Watchers, as they are called. What they are, we don't know. But they were here to help human kind evolve. They revealed too much information to human kind too soon, and married human women, producing the Nephilim. For this their power was taken from them, and they were imprisoned for all time. Religious literature the world over contains hints about them."
"So what are they?" I finally opened my mouth and it was Elijah who answered.
"Some kind of beings who had possession of a higher intelligence than humankind. Why they were here to observe humans, we don't know. Why it was dangerous to give knowledge to humans, we don't know either. Religious writings may be corrupted efforts to understand what happened. As religious writings often are - they are expressions of man's limited understanding attempting to explain something that is way above their current state of intelligence. Trying to explain the inexplicable."
"Are we some sort of aliens, then?" I asked.
"We don't know what we are. We appeared in human history thousands of years back, and when we go in search of information about our ancestry, all we have to go by are limited sources in old religious documents. People have twisted these writings to their own ends throughout history, taking away some parts and adding others. Mostly, it was done to fit whatever suited those in power. So we do not know the truth," Daniel explained. "What we do know for certain, however, is that we have been here for thousands of years, and as such should have a right to be here. But we cannot reveal ourselves to ordinary people. That would cause havoc. Imagine what would happen to world religions, if we began to walk - or fly - about, showing our wings."
I couldn't imagine, really.
"It would throw the whole world into turmoil. It is best that ordinary people don't see the other reality. Nephilim, vampires, shadows... if their basic beliefs of the structure of reality are shaken too much, it may lead to wars, and destruction. The balance of the world is a delicate thing," Daniel explained. "Fear is the emotion that tips it."
That I could understand. If my Mom were ever to see a shadow, or my angel wings, she would surely lose her mind.
"So... The Trail of Angels is what they are looking for. Do they have any idea where it might begin?" Lilith asked Mr. Donnelly.
He shook his head.
"No, as far as they know it could be anywhere. And the first clue is what they need to follow that trail in the right order."
"So... we would need to figure out what the first clue is..." Reggie rubbed his chin with his fingers, deep in thought.
"Well, not quite. I think I have - ah - figured - it out already," Mr. Donnelly announced.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
62. The Clue
We stared at Mr. Donnelly, surprised.
"You know where the path starts?" Daniel finally put the question into words.
"I cannot say I know where the path starts, but I have found a description about the location of the first clue, which will tell where the Trail of Angels begins. A clue to the clues, if you will."
"Let's hear it, then." Elijah moved towards him.
Mr. Donnelly's hands twitched nervously.
"Patience, Elijah." Lilith raised her hand as if to push Elijah back. "Remember that our guest does not have good experiences of the Nephilim."
Elijah muttered apologies and stepped back.
"It was the oddest thing, the way I found this clue... It was a shadow that told me about it not many days ago."
"A shadow?" Grandma's voice revealed she could not believe her ears.
"Yes, a shadow. But not like the shadows of the city of Immortals. This one was more like a... ghost. Someone who had really died."
"A ghost?"
"Yes, the ghost of a young woman," Mr. Donnelly nodded, "I was sitting in my study, doing some... translation work... when she materialized in my room. I have to say that in my old life I would have been scared out of my wits, but after a while one gets used to all sorts of creatures in the city of the Immortals. I knew she was not an ordinary shadow. She was beautiful, not at all like the twisted shadows on the City."
He searched for words and drew something into the air with his hands.
"She was visible only from waist up, and tried to speak, but I could not hear her voice. I do not know who she was, maybe someone who had died in the city, and was now bound to it forever..."
Lilith wondered about this.
"You know, no one is bound forever anywhere after their death, and can move on. If they are stuck, they can be advised further. But not all want to move forward."
"Quite. The murderers, criminals and such," Mr. Donnelly nodded, "I have seen them. I went to the lowest level under the Council hall... and I have seen some in the City as well. They cling to their old environments, and try to get the attention of anyone or anything nearby, so that they will pay attention to them and so feed them energy. That makes them more solid."
"So people die in the City as well?" Grandma asked, "but not likely of old age?"
"They do die, as people live there in their physical bodies. Physical bodies can be killed," Mr. Donnelly replied and shivered. Obviously he had some unpleasant memories of the subject.
"But this young lady did not have the feeling of desperation about her, as had the other ghosts I had seen. She was quite pleasant to look at. So I looked at her, to give her more substance with my attention, but it did not work. That is when I understood she must come from the upper levels of existence and my lower energies were not needed for her to materialize."
"You mean her energies were higher?"
"Yes, higher than mine, which is why my energies did not have an effect on her - do you understand? The ones who die in the City share the energy of the ones still living there. They are of the same level, if you will. A bit hard to explain, but it's similar to creating things from the material of the City with your thoughts."
"Yes, I think we understand," Grandma assured him. "It seems you had a visitor from the higher levels then. What did she do? Why did she come?"
"She understood I did not hear what she said, so she beckoned me to follow. She led me out of my study, and into the library. She took me to a part of the library I had not visited much, which was the Coptic section."
"You had ancient Coptic manuscripts?" Reggie got excited. "How old?"
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"Very old. She took me to a shelf and pointed at an old script. I took it with me. Then she took me to a more modern part of the library, and pointed at one of the most recent acquisitions. I took that too.
"The Coptic manuscript was a fragment only, but it talked of one of their churches in a most peculiar way. A Christian hermit had written it, and it was found in the deserts of Egypt, being preserved by the dry climate. It said that in the city of the Sun a church was built, inside a heathen tomb. An Angel appeared and told him that the key to a path to the Creators was hidden in the church - notice the plural form - and then disappeared. The angel had three pairs of wings. The portrait of the Angel was painted there in the church as a reminder for the congregation of the heavenly visit."
Reggie and I spoke at the same time.
"Panhesy!"
"Pan... what?" Grandma looked like we were talking utter nonsense.
"Panhesy! It is the tomb of Panhesy!" Reggie shouted.
"The chief servitor of the Aten in the city of Akhetaten!" I continued, "In Christian times the Copts built a shrine in his tomb."
"And there, at the semi-dome of the apse, are the remains of a painting. What kind of creature, we do not know, as the central part of the painting has been destroyed. But the wings are still there!" Reggie's hands were flying through the air when he first drew the apse into the air, and then used his hands as wings, and stuck them first high up in the air, then a bit lower, and finally at his sides, in depiction of three pairs of wings. "Anyone have a computer with them?"
No one had.
"To the office." Lilith rose to her feet. "Mr. Donnelly can come too."
When we came to the hall, the gate had been hidden. A big painting of the Centre, obviously made around the time the building had been built, now hung on the wall covering it. Gentlemen and ladies on horseback, wearing old-fashioned clothing, were riding in front of the building. No wonder the gate had been surrounded by a decorated frame. It just looked like any big old painting now.
Mr. Donnelly looked around him in awe.
"We had nothing of the sort in our City." He pointed at the lights, and almost wrung his neck trying to figure out what the computers were at the central desk.
The City sure sounded like an old fashioned place. That led me into complicated thoughts about time and technology and questions that I couldn't answer, so I concentrated again on what was actually happening.
Lilith wrote her password and opened her computer screen.
"Go on, Reggie, you show us," she gave way to Reggie who eagerly reached for the mouse.
"Let's see... The Amarna Project... Recent Projects... Survey.... Christian Settlements...."
We waited when he searched and scrolled.
"Here!"
Everyone tried to see the screen simultaneously, and in the ensuing congestion I ended up right next to Daniel. Our arms touched and I felt my knees melt.
I tried to concentrate. I looked at the picture. "Six-winged creature in the semi-dome of the apse" the text said.
And there they were. Six wings. Red wings, just like in the Book of Messengers. The center of the painting had been destroyed, and only the wings on their blue surface remained.
"Indeed!" Mr. Donnelly clapped his hands. "These are the very wings that were shown in the modern book! And the book also told that Panhesy lived in a city where the king worshipped the light of the sun, a long time before the birth of Christ. So he was a heathen, then."
"Aketaten," Reggie and I said simultaneously.
"The clue to the path leading to the Book of Watchers is in the tomb of Panhesy in Amarna," Reggie clarified.
"How did the Copts know the king of Amarna worshipped the Sun?" Grandma asked. "They lived 1400 years apart in time, after all."
"Panhesy's tomb is full of well-preserved reliefs about Akhenaten worshipping the sun, and the sun's rays ending in little hands, which bless the king and the royal family," Reggie explained. "Not hard to draw a conclusion."
"Panhesy, Second prophet of the Lord of the Two Lands Neferkheprure-Waenre. That would be Akhenaten." Lilith searched the net, "Overseer of the double granary of the Aten in Akhetaten, Overseer of cattle of the Aten."
"That's where we'll be going, then," Daniel nodded.
I did not dare to move, because for a fleeting moment he stroked my fingers with his. And then it was over, and I stood there, with my heart beating like a drum, not sure if he had done it intentionally or it was just an accident.
I hoped not and told myself to concentrate on what was happening in front of me.
"Can you tell us anything more about the ghost you saw?" Grandma asked. "What did she look like?"
"She was quite young, and very attractive and pleasant looking. Her hair was cut to her shoulders, and was brown in color... And she was wearing a necklace - a white little cat's head with a pink bow on its head. Something a child would wear, really..."
I knew who had hair like that, and who had been buried with a Hello Kitty necklace around her neck.
"It was Kitty!" I whispered.
Grandma smiled. I noticed Daniel and Elijah briefly exchanging glances.
"I told you she wanted to contact you! And now it seems she is involved with our mission of finding the Book of Watchers!"
I could not help tears of joy filling my eyes. Kitty was still around.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
63. Meeting Kitty
We left the following morning. Grandma sped away first in her red sports car, alone. Another hunter, Tinky, a short Asian girl, spied on the shadows, and returned to let us know that one of the shadows had followed Grandma. Two had remained in the bushes.
I had not been able to sleep for the most of the rest of the night. Instead I had spent hours standing at the window of our room. Diana had stayed up with me.
"What does the world look like to you now? I believe the senses of the Nephilim are different from ours?"
I explained to her how I could see more light in the darkest night, so that even in total darkness I could see my way - how beautiful the starry skies looked now that there was double the amount of stars I was used to seeing. How I could see little animals moving in the grass and forests, and spot anyone approaching from far away because now their body heat was visible to me.
"Can you see ghosts now?" Diana wanted to know.
"I have no idea. I haven't seen any that I know of. Wouldn't mind seeing Kitty, though..."
"I don't think you can call Kitty a ghost. As I understand it, ghosts are souls that have not left this earthly plane, but have remained here, wandering near places that are important to them. Kitty, on the other hand, has travelled to higher levels after her death, as she should have done. She's not a ghost."
"But she showed herself to Mr. Donnelly."
"Showed, yes, by her own free will. Think about it. Surely you don't think she haunts the land of the Immortals because she can't leave? And she had trouble expressing herself in the lower buffer zone level, if she could not make her voice heard. That means she doesn't belong there."
Diana had a point there. I remembered my own dream where Kitty had warned me about the shadow under my window and I could not hear her voice.
"There's just one thing I don't get," Diana said, "Kitty's death. Everyone seems to think they tried to kill you, and hit Kitty accidentally. If you are such a valuable Nephilim to the dark side, why on earth would they want to kill you?"
I shook my head.
"No, I'm sure they killed Kitty on purpose, to catch me. And then they planted the medium's visiting card in my path, trying to lure me to her shop so Angel could kidnap me."
"That makes sense," Diana admitted, "and is yet more proof of how little they value human life, the dark Nephilim.And how dangerously clever and manipulative they are."
Diana helped me pack a small bag. I still had no makeup, and was getting accustomed to it already. Turning into a Nephilim had given my skin quite a nice glow, and I did not mind my blonde eyeb
rows now. Before I had looked eternally surprised, without clearly defined eyebrows, and used a lot of time creating them each morning with a brow pencil. Now, however, they were still very light in color, but they seemed to define my face more than before. Also my blue eyes had become more intense in color. I had no golden dots in them like Daniel, though.
The Centre had its own costumiers and Diana took me there because my growth spurt had made all my previous clothes too small.. I had been once before to the costume department, and it was a real hall full of clothes rails.
"Different teams travel to different times and need clothing that enable them to immerse themselves in the times they are visiting."
"You must have quite a few Time Walker teams, if the amount of clothing is anything to go by." I swirled around. "You could clothe a small town with these!"
"We sure do, because certain teams specialize in certain times for obvious reasons – it takes them years even to learn the language and habits of a particular time, and even with the buffer zone stopping people from getting older, it is a lot of work. If a team stays in a specific time for a longer period they try to buy clothes made in that time and bring these back to our modern times. They can then be used as models in creating new dresses of the age."
Diana took a medieval-looking dress from one of the racks.
"This looks like a genuine dress - look how coarse the material is. This seems to be a dress for poorer folks."
I touched the fabric and had to agree not many people in today's world would put it on voluntarily.
"And now, let's get you something more fitting to wear, you look rather hilarious in those jeans - not that your ankles aren't pretty, but still..." Diana grinned at my skinny legs exposed by the short trousers.
Luckily there were other tall people as well, so I managed to get something to wear.
"You certainly won't fit into the past," Diana shook her head, looking at me after I had my extremities properly covered with clothes again, "you are way too tall now. Women were much shorter then."